Emergency services join bulk buy scheme

Peterborough is to benefit from a major collaboration between UK emergency services.

34 organisations have come together to save £7 million on bulk buying new vehicles.

130 will come to Cambridgeshire, saving more than £90,000.

Officials say the scheme, spearheaded by West Midlands Police, pulls together the vehicle buying power of police and fire and rescue services from across the country from Devon & Cornwall through to Lincolnshire.

As a result, more than 3,000 vehicles will be ordered by the organisations over the next two years, with 1,200 of them being built in Britain.

As the biggest vehicle collaboration of its kind in the UK, it is estimated that the overall spend resulting from this contract is in excess of £100million when taking in to account the whole life costs of the vehicles the initial purchase along with fuel, maintenance, parts and repairs. The group will make savings of between six and seven million pounds.

The contract is for the full range of police vehicles, from the beat cars, through to the high performance cars used for traffic and motorway policing. Suppliers were selected from a list of companies on the national government framework agreement, specifically for blue light services.